History of Free Trade
US History Term Paper
America’s Free Trade Schism: A Dichotomy of Opinions
Roman philosopher Cicero once said, “Not to know what has been transacted in former times is to be always a child. If no use is made of the labors of past ages, the world must remain always in the infancy of knowledge.” At no point is this statement more relevant than today as American consumers are faced with moral decisions affecting their everyday lives. Most arguments against free trade are made by special interest groups, who believe that it will make laborers or countries worse off. People arguing against free trade will say that we need to keep jobs in the United States, we want to keep money in our country, and that our national security is at stake. The opposite side argues in favor of free trade saying it makes countries better off, and creates peace and wealth distribution. These arguments have been heard in our country, before we were a country, as angered colonial pioneers contemplated trade between their ruler, Great Britain versus domestic industrialization. Knowing the friction trade has caused throughout our relatively short history and how the world views free trade today, I ask myself, and I implore you to ask yourself the same, did free trade begin in the United States, and more importantly, is free trade a good thing? To contemplate this historic schism, I asked myself these questions, and looked at a dichotomy of opinionated sources including Eric Foner’s Give Me Liberty!, Daniel Griswold’s Mad About Trade, Ha-Joon Chang’s Bad Samaritans, and Gregory Mankiw’s Principles of Macroeconomics.
The United States has had a long history of both support and opposition to free trade. Ideologies of protectionism and isolationism have all plagued America’s stance on free trade. Opposition to free trade can be found in George Washington’s Farewell Address, to which he advised the young nation at the time to avoid “entangling alliances.”1 America’s first
America’s Free Trade Schism: A Dichotomy of Opinions
Roman philosopher Cicero once said, “Not to know what has been transacted in former times is to be always a child. If no use is made of the labors of past ages, the world must remain always in the infancy of knowledge.” At no point is this statement more relevant than today as American consumers are faced with moral decisions affecting their everyday lives. Most arguments against free trade are made by special interest groups, who believe that it will make laborers or countries worse off. People arguing against free trade will say that we need to keep jobs in the United States, we want to keep money in our country, and that our national security is at stake. The opposite side argues in favor of free trade saying it makes countries better off, and creates peace and wealth distribution. These arguments have been heard in our country, before we were a country, as angered colonial pioneers contemplated trade between their ruler, Great Britain versus domestic industrialization. Knowing the friction trade has caused throughout our relatively short history and how the world views free trade today, I ask myself, and I implore you to ask yourself the same, did free trade begin in the United States, and more importantly, is free trade a good thing? To contemplate this historic schism, I asked myself these questions, and looked at a dichotomy of opinionated sources including Eric Foner’s Give Me Liberty!, Daniel Griswold’s Mad About Trade, Ha-Joon Chang’s Bad Samaritans, and Gregory Mankiw’s Principles of Macroeconomics.
The United States has had a long history of both support and opposition to free trade. Ideologies of protectionism and isolationism have all plagued America’s stance on free trade. Opposition to free trade can be found in George Washington’s Farewell Address, to which he advised the young nation at the time to avoid “entangling alliances.”1 America’s first
Bibliography: Foner, Eric, Give Me Liberty!, New York: Norton and Company, 2005. Mankiw, N. Gregory, Principles of Macroeconomics 5th Edition, South Western, Cengage Learning, 2008. Griswold, Daniel, Mad About Trade: Why Main Street America Should Embrace Globalization, Washington D.C., Cato Institute, 2009. Chang, Ha-Joon, Bad Samaritans: The Myth of Free Trade and the Secret History of Capitalism, New York: Bloomsbury Press, 2008.